Piero Bianconi, Albero genealogico (Cronaca di emigranti): Book Review

Authors

Lukas F. Burckhardt, Bern

Keywords

book review, Swiss American Historical Society

Abstract

"C'e piu distanza effettiva tra l'infanzia e la vechiaia di mia madre che tra lei bambina e gli uomini delle caverne" (There is more real distance between the childhood and the old age of my mother than between her as a little girl and man in the stone age), the author exclaims, as he observes from the new power dam, which has been constructed in his native Verzasca valley in the canton of Ticino, how a great part of the rural world of his ancestors is being submerged for ever. In such surroundings his mother had not been allowed by her parents to use a match, when she had to light the fire in the kitchen stove, because to profit of such an article of luxury would have been an inadmissible waste of money, but she had to run to a friendly neighbor in order to catch there an ember from their hearth. In her old age, however, she simply had to turn on an electric switch when she wanted to cook the "minestra" for her supper.

Recommended Citation

Burckhardt, Lukas F. (1976) "Piero Bianconi, Albero genealogico (Cronaca di emigranti): Book Review," Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter: Vol. 12: Iss. 3, Article 7.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_newsletter/vol12/iss3/7